For the time being
by Scetchbook123
Summary: Before Mituna's accident and before overall madness with the game went down. Before He and Latula even got together. She found kankri with a broken heart. She was instantly taken aback for many reasons that confused her. How did she help him if at all?


Latula Pyrope. She is a very energetic troll that loves doing stunts and rad moves on her skateboard. At the moment she is single though she has become interested in Mituna Captor.

She walks around looking for some smoother roads or paths to skate on when she hears a faint whimper

She looks in the direction of said whimper and follows it down a skinny path that seems to turn into a hall instead of a room. It gets mildly louder as she gets closer to it. She has plenty of friends and can't think of anything any of them could be upset about. It could be Meulin with her quadrant problems regarding Kurloz, perhaps Mituna is having trouble with his memory again, or maybe Rufio ended it with Horuss. Meulin said they looked like they were having trouble so it's possible.

When she finally finds the closed door she presses her ear to it. To her surprise the door was open and she has just pushed it open. She stumbles a bit and lifts her head back up to see not only someone crying after all, but the last person she would have expected.

Kankri Vantas is sitting on the floor of the ratty and filthy room. He is hugging his knees and sitting against the wall across from her. It is clear this room does not belong to anyone. Leading this to be even more strange. Kankri, in a place covered in dust and spiderwebs. Sitting alone crying.

When she makes eye contact with him they both become silent. He swallows the lump in his throat and waits for something to happen. His red tear stained face shines with the little bit of light in the room. He looks so very helpless and scared. He has never shown any signs of unhappiness or pain. And certainty not secret keeping. He always said it could be triggering to keep secrets.

She opens her mouth but no words come out no matter how much she tries. Instead she closes her mouth and walks into the room. He looks up at her with the red, wide eyes he had this whole time.

She goes to her knees in front of him and looks right at those eyes of his. They both start tearing up as the stare continues and she sniffles right before sitting on her feet and pulling him close to her.

He stays motionless while she on the other hand wraps her arms around his shoulders.

"L-Latula-" He begins to say. "Shh. Your don't have to explain anything. Just let it out." She cuts him off quickly, knowing he would try and say something against this. He takes in a shaky breath and finally hugs her back. Clinging to her more like.

At this point she has no idea what's wrong. She has no idea what to do besides sit here. And she has not the slightest bit of understanding as to why she feels the need to fix this. To make him feel better.

Her heart is pounding and her face is tinted teal. She feels him shaking, his heart beating the same as hers. She rubs his back to let him know it's ok. This signal causes him to break.

He is no longer caring who else hears him. It doesn't matter because she is here and she is holding him. He lets out a loud cry and continues to do so as time passes. They don't say a word to each other and she tries to keep herself from wondering why he is in so much emotional distress.

She may never know what happened to make him feel this way, she knows that and he hopes that is the case. His feelings have always remained a secret. And he liked it that way. His oath of celebathy does not allow him to have a matesprit and therefore feeling such love for a person should not be happening. He loves her. He always has. He notices the little quirks she has, he remembers and loves them all.

He was fine loving from afar until he saw the way she acts around Mituna. He is not particularly friends with the Captor but that doesn't stop him from seeing the way they both act.

It is clear they are flushed even though neither one will say anything.

He heard Cronus and Mituna talking about it earlier that day. Cronus was encouraging Mituna to make a move and ask her out. This was simply to much for Kankri to handle and he couldn't stop himself from crying. He walked as quickly as he could to find a hiding place when he came across this gloomy and filthy room.

Neither of them have kept the time though it feels like an hour before he calms down. Now reduced to sniffling and deep breaths, Kankri releases Latula from his grip and she does the same. They look at each other for a minute before either speaks. "Thank you." He says softly. "Of course! I um. I'm sorry for whatever made you feel this way." She replies. "Y-yes. Thank you." He looks down at the space between them. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asks. The curiosity is eating her.

"I... I can't." He replies. "Um. What?" She asks. She would understand him saying he doesn't want to talk about it, but that he can't? "I'm very sorry but I'm..afraid." He says. That didn't make any more sense. "Afraid of what? I wont tell anyone." She asks. "I believe it would be triggering to you for me to say. As well as it would create an awkward environment which on it's own may be triggering." He sort of explains. "...Tell me anyway." She replies. This causes him to lift his head and look straight through her red shades and into her eyes. He is shocked by her amount of concern.

"Latula.. Please forgive my saying so. But to tell you the truth I have been flushed red for you for some time now.. And I completely understand you are interested in Mituna. You needn't worry about explaining. I had no intentions of saying anything at any point in time but I had over heard a conversation between him and Cronus discussing his feeling of the flushed sort for you." He begins quickly and slows his talking rate as he becomes more awkward and embarrassed with what he is saying. He breaks eye contact with her and lowers his head. She on the other hand is in complete shock and cannot take her eyes off of him. They both get a shade darker with blush.

"I hope you do not look at me different because of this and I do not wish it to change anything between us though I can see how it may." He continues. The only thing that changes is her mouth opening slightly. "I-if you would excuse me now.." He finishes and adjusts himself to stand up. At a split second of a moment, she sees a red tear drop to the floor and a spark goes off in her head. She stands up quickly and stars at him for a second. He glances at her, utterly confused. She is as well but can't help herself. She wraps her arms around his neck and pulls him harshly into a hug. "I'm so sorry Kankri. I should have known. Or at least paid more attention to you." She says, feeling her own tears sneaking up. "Latula.. It isn't your fault in the slightest. I worked to make sure you did not know a thing. You really can't blame yourself for that." He replies. "W-what?" She asks. Is he seriously trying to say he hides his emotions? No. She is aware she over thinks things so that couldn't be the case. "I..Didn't want to trouble anyone.." He explains vaguely This strikes a cord for her. She was right. He hides his emotion. "Kankri you can't keep things bottled up like that. It's not good for you." She replies. "I have been doing it this way for most of my life. Flushed feelings involved or otherwise. If it were bad for me I would have discovered that by now." He explains a bit better.

"Oh gog. Kankri you have to promise me you wont do that anymore! I can't stand to see that happen." Her voice begins shaking. He always knew she was caring in that way. She didn't care about blood ranking. She treated everyone as if they were equals, at least with herself. She was always caring but not nosy. In his eyes she is flawless weather she knows it or not. Though she seems to understand self worth rather well, just another quality he loves about her.

"Kankri I really really need you to be honest with me now. If I'm gonna know about this then I should know about whatever else you're hiding. I mean. Damn I sound really pushy now. I'm sorry." She continues. "This is it. Mostly. But I would very much like to avoid getting into my own tendencies" He replies. "...Fine. It makes sense. Can I ask you one thing though?" She asks. It is at this time she realizes that he has yet to hug her back though her arms are still locked around his neck. But she is stubborn. She will stay here until he hugs her. It is a natural goal of hers.

"Alright." He answers. "Why me? What's so great about me?" She asks. His nerves return but he did say that he would answer so he has really no choice now. "You're just wonderful... You don't care about social ranking in the slightest. You never count anyone out. It's wonderful with our size of team. There's the way you wrinkle your nose when something bothers you. The way your hair looks when you're moving fast on that four-wheeled board. When you prop your shades up on your head, right in front of your horns, you look amazing. Even more so when there is a gleam of light in the way and it creates a literal twinkle in your eyes." He begins getting lost in his own thoughts. As he goes on her eyes widen and she is unable to move. Even if she wanted to. "I understand I have gone on long enough about those things. I do not wish you to feel bad for me as you do not need to... You needn't worry. I know it will never happen. I never expected it to." He pauses for the slightest second as his hands shake. "Simply impossible." That one word rings like an echo in her head. She didn't like believing things were impossible. EVER. "I see the little butterflies that form when you look at him. It seems I noticed even before you showed signs of knowing it yourself. He did indeed help me come to the realizations even loving you from afar would be stretching my reach to much." One shake goes through his entire arm. "Kan-" She starts, not knowing what she will say either way.

"You don't need to explain. I understand that he is the one you love. Not me. I'm just to different. Not your type I suppose. He manages to pull such outrageous stunts on the same platform as you. And I sit on the sidelines with my heart being struck with fear with the slightest sign of anyone getting hurt. I could never be like him. Even if I tried. I just can't..." At this time she notices she is already crying silently. She can't manage to get a single word out, even in the moments of silence that occur.

"Y-you know. There is a song Porrim was playing the other day. I believe she said it was called "Lies". Rather interesting if you ask me. Oh how did it go.." His voice shake as well as his hands.

However. She knows this song. She unclogs her throat to get out the words. Her voice is soft, just another quality for him to love is her smooth and gentle singing voice. "You're never gonna love me. So whats the use." She begins. He nods.

_Whats the point of playin, a game you're gonna loose? _

_Whats the point of saying, you love me like a friend?_

_Whats the point of saying, its never gonna end._

_You'_re- He cuts her off there by raising a hand. "You are in no means a coward. Needn't worry about that line." She nods and continues the following line.

_I don't wanna admit, but we're not gonna fit._

_No I'm not the type that you like why don't we just pretend?_

_Lies._

_Don't wanna know._

_Don't wanna know._

_I, can't let you go._

_Can't let you go._

_I just wanted to be perfect._

_To believe it's all been worth the fight._

_Lies._

Her throat catches and she stops singing. Both of them not making a sound. Yet tears of both colors have soaked into each others shoulder. "Kankri. I'm so sorry. I really am." She says with her voice vibrating. "I know. It's really alright." He replies, trying to stay calm. A type of lying he has had much practice with. "I-I need you to do something. Just hug me already." She sighs out.

"A-alright." He replies and does as she asks. They stay there, his arms tight around her waist and hers the same but around his neck. They stay silent and still for who knows how long. Wondering what to do now. But at the moment. It doesn't matter. He gets to pretend she loves him in this moment and she gets to see a new side to him. Maybe it is impossible for her to love him. But right now she just cares. Deeply cares and gets to try making him feel better with this simple hug.

Both are content. For the time being.


End file.
